Weekly Column - Nebraskans Sound Off on Obamacare

Statement

As we make final preparations for the Christmas holiday, many Americans remain engaged in a passionate discussion about the future of their health care. And as the enrollment deadline for January coverage nears, folks across the country are rightly pointing out that Obamacare isn't the great gift the Administration said it was going to be.

Millions of Americans who were told they would be able to keep their health plan are now being forced to find new coverage as their insurance providers struggle to comply with Obamacare deadlines and mandates that seem to change with the weather. Website woes have eaten away at the window for enrollment and continue to burden Americans who must sign up to avoid a tax fine. Some folks reported hours on hold with the government's technical assistance teams and multiple technical glitches impeding the enrollment process. Those who have successfully navigated the cyber obstacle course are now left wondering if their coverage requests were actually received in the absence of any confirmation of new coverage.

Since before Obamacare was passed in 2010, I've been an outspoken critic of the flawed law and its many consequences, unintended and otherwise, for people across this country. I've supported more than 30 efforts to delay, defund or repeal Obamacare. And I've crisscrossed the state, meeting with businesses and families who face the onerous law. As strongly as I feel about this law being the wrong direction for our country, you don't have to take my word for it, because Nebraskans are sounding off.

My office has been flooded with stories from Nebraskans who are struggling with this law. One mother from Omaha wrote me about the medical challenges her family faces. Three of their young kids have conditions that require expensive tests and perhaps surgery. They are now paying 50 percent higher premiums for a plan with increased coinsurance and reduced prescription coverage. She wrote, "Looking toward the upcoming year with the medical costs we will be facing, we are very disappointed in the way the Obama administration has failed not only our family, but the entire nation."

Another 25-year-old from Lincoln contacted me about the expensive coverage being required for young, healthy Americans--part of the law's design to ensure health care costs don't skyrocket. She wrote: "We're starting our families, building businesses, launching our careers, and trying to give back to our communities however we can. Now Obamacare is devastating the American dream of an entire generation."

Pressure from vulnerable Democrats under fire from the millions of Americans whose plans were canceled despite repeated promises that they would be able to keep their current health care has pushed the President to attempt to bail out his own law. Some of the insurance plans Obamacare forced insurers to cancel have been given new life, but only for 2014. One year from now, these families will be right back in the same situation--forced to purchase more costly and less effective plans as their current ones are dropped. And I expect a whole new wave of problems with this law throughout next year as businesses prepare to comply with new coverage mandates, and as 2015 premiums skyrocket even further.

I will continue to share these stories from Nebraskans who are struggling with the new law. By delaying and ignoring provisions in his own law, the President and his party have shown they are not immune from public outcry, and I will continue to stand up for concerned Nebraskans until this Administration and Democrats in Congress have the courage to admit that this law is not good for America and must be repealed.

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